AN ACT relating to reading and writing in schools.
HB 272 revises Kentucky law on reading and writing instruction in schools, with a particular focus on students with dyslexia, dysgraphia, and other reading and writing difficulties. The bill requires the Kentucky Department of Education to maintain and update a dyslexia toolkit that provides guidance, technical assistance, and training for local districts, especially for kindergarten through grade 3 students. The toolkit must cover definitions, identification and monitoring procedures, evidence-based practices, structured multisensory literacy approaches, instructional planning, and professional development for educators.
The bill also changes local school board responsibilities from permissive to mandatory by requiring each board to adopt a policy for identifying and assisting young students with dyslexia. Those policies must include evaluation tools, trained personnel, parent outreach, interventions, accommodations, and progress monitoring. In addition, districts must report annual data on identification, evaluation, interventions, and staffing to the department, which must compile the information and submit a yearly report to the legislature. HB 272 further directs the department to run a three-district study project on early screening and intervention for dyslexia and requires teacher preparation programs to include instruction on dyslexia and response-to-intervention practices by the 2026-2027 academic year.
HB 272 amends KRS 158.307 and KRS 164.304, expanding statewide requirements for dyslexia-related screening, intervention, reporting, and educator preparation. It shifts local district policy development from optional to required, increases state oversight through annual data collection and reporting, and imposes new expectations on teacher preparation programs to include dyslexia and response-to-intervention content. The bill primarily affects the Kentucky Department of Education, local boards of education, school districts, teacher training institutions, educators, students in kindergarten through grade 3, and families of students with reading and writing disabilities.
The bill appears to have broad support, as reflected by the House vote of 94-0 on third reading. The lack of recorded committee transcript discussion suggests little visible controversy in the available record, and the unanimous vote indicates a generally favorable view of the bill’s goals of improving early literacy support and dyslexia identification. Overall, the sentiment is strongly positive and policy-oriented, with emphasis on structured intervention and educator training.
The main policy shift in the bill is the move from discretionary to mandatory local board policies, which could raise concerns about administrative burden, training capacity, and implementation costs for districts and teacher preparation programs. Another possible point of tension is the expanded data reporting and state oversight, which may be viewed as helpful accountability by supporters but as added compliance work by districts. No direct opposition is reflected in the available vote or transcript record, so any contention appears limited or not publicly documented in the materials provided.